[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 129 (Friday, September 21, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S6620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          REMEMBERING AL ADAMS

 Ms. MURKOWSKI. I speak today to honor the memory of Al Adams, 
an Alaska Native leader. In the Alaska legislature for some 20 years, 
Al Adams was regarded as one of the most effective advocates for the 
interests of rural Alaska. Senator Adams died on August 13 after a long 
battle with cancer. Alaska's Governor ordered flags in the State 
lowered to half staff in honor of Adams' service to Alaska. His 
funeral, at ChangePoint Alaska in Anchorage, drew over 1,500 mourners. 
A second funeral was conducted in Al's hometown of Kotzebue.
  Al Adams was born in Kotzebue, AK in 1942. He attended Mt. Edgecumbe 
High School in Sitka. Following high school, he attended the University 
of Alaska Fairbanks and RCA Technical Institute. There is a back story 
behind the RCA Technical Institute. Prior to enactment of the Alaska 
Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, one of the better jobs that a 
Native person from rural Alaska could hope for was a job tracking 
satellites at the Gilmore Creek Satellite Tracking Facility near 
Fairbanks. Several of those who traveled with Al to Los Angeles for 
training at the RCA Technical Institute would later become leading 
players in the implementation of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement 
Act.
  Over the course of his career, Al would serve as president of 
Kikiktagruk Inupiat Corporation and executive vice president of NANA 
Regional Corporation, but his service in the Alaska legislature left 
Al's most enduring legacies. Al served in the Alaska House of 
Representatives from 1980-1988 and in the Alaska Senate from 1989-2000. 
He was known as ``Mr. Finance.'' Al chaired the powerful House Finance 
Committee. He served 18 years on the Legislative Budget and Audit 
Committee and 12 years on the Operating Budget Conference Committee. As 
a Representative and Senator from rural western Alaska he understood 
the unique problems that his communities faced and ensured that they 
received an equitable share of State funding.
  Al's most enduring legislative accomplishment is the Power Cost 
Equalization Program. One of the greatest impediments to the viability 
of traditional Native communities in rural Alaska is the cost of 
electricity. Since rural Alaska largely lives ``off the grid'' 
electricity must be generated locally by burning diesel fuel which is 
transported long distances by barge. The Power Cost Equalization 
Program protects rural communities by setting a cap on the price that 
rural consumers pay for energy. It is a tremendously important program 
and rural Alaska has Al Adams to thank for it.
  Following his service as a legislator, Al became a lobbyist. We do 
not commonly commend the work of lobbyists in the pages of the Record, 
but Al was a special kind of lobbyist. He lobbied selectively for the 
causes he believed in, representing the North Slope Borough and the 
Northwest Arctic Borough. During this period he used his vast 
legislative and political experience to educate his Native people on 
how they can be more effective in the political arena. Just one 
example, recognizing that rural Alaska's reliance on imported diesel 
was ultimately unsustainable, he lobbied to develop local sources of 
energy in western Alaska, at one time proposing an intraregional grid 
to power remote communities. He lobbied to make it possible for the 
tribal hospital in Kotzebue to build a new long-term care wing on their 
hospital. Al Adams used his insider access and knowledge for good.
  I would like to spend a moment to discuss Al on a personal level. I 
will always remember his smile--that crinkly smile--and his sense of 
humor which could defuse even the tensest of meetings. Al operated in 
multiple worlds at once--the world of politics, the world of business--
but he never abandoned his Inupiaq roots. His official obituary relates 
that Al often organized subsistence hunting and fishing trips for his 
children, where he passed down traditional Inupiaq skills. He 
coordinated all the logistics for these memorable outings and even 
served as camp cook, making sure everyone else was well fed. Whether 
dipnetting at the mouth of the Kenai, caribou hunting outside Kotzebue 
or visiting the fish wheel at Chitina, he let his wife, children and 
grandchildren know that they were loved and that they came first and 
foremost in his life.
  I have lost a dear friend, the Native community has lost a respected 
leader, and all Alaska has lost a statesman whose legacies will long be 
remembered. The Senate extends its condolences to the Al Adams family 
and all who mourn the loss of this exemplary Alaskan.

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